Wow! Somebody made a mess of those poor Bens!
Are you sure those aren't just nibbled on by insects. It happens...gum is yummy.
I don't think so. Usually insect damage is apparent by destruction of the paper fibers of the envelope as well as the stamp.The envelope itself has no such damage.
It actually looks like someone was trying to create the effect of a Brinkerhoff vending coil along the long side of the stamp - pix is from 1955 Scott Specialized.
As your image (and the image above) shows, the Brinkerhoff coils were perforated on the horizontal edges, not the vertical edges.
But the postmark date on your cover prohibits the possibility that someone was trying to emulate a Brinkerhoff perf, the imperforate version of this stamp (#314) was not available for private perforation until a year later than your cover on 12/20/1906. So in 1905 no one had any idea about private perforations for this stamp.
So it was either bugs or someone tearing at these stamp for some other reason(s).
Don
Agreed.
Probably a rainy day project for imaginative kids ... thought it was an interesting example of what happened when kids weren't exposed to technology 24/7 and could actually use their imagination.
Oddball picked up as part of a lot of mini covers a couple of decades ago.
Someone had fun making this back in the first year that vending machine coils came out. Fair resemblance to Brinkerhoff Type llb.
re: Homemade fun in 1905 with Ben Franklin
Wow! Somebody made a mess of those poor Bens!
re: Homemade fun in 1905 with Ben Franklin
Are you sure those aren't just nibbled on by insects. It happens...gum is yummy.
re: Homemade fun in 1905 with Ben Franklin
I don't think so. Usually insect damage is apparent by destruction of the paper fibers of the envelope as well as the stamp.The envelope itself has no such damage.
It actually looks like someone was trying to create the effect of a Brinkerhoff vending coil along the long side of the stamp - pix is from 1955 Scott Specialized.
re: Homemade fun in 1905 with Ben Franklin
As your image (and the image above) shows, the Brinkerhoff coils were perforated on the horizontal edges, not the vertical edges.
But the postmark date on your cover prohibits the possibility that someone was trying to emulate a Brinkerhoff perf, the imperforate version of this stamp (#314) was not available for private perforation until a year later than your cover on 12/20/1906. So in 1905 no one had any idea about private perforations for this stamp.
So it was either bugs or someone tearing at these stamp for some other reason(s).
Don
re: Homemade fun in 1905 with Ben Franklin
Agreed.
Probably a rainy day project for imaginative kids ... thought it was an interesting example of what happened when kids weren't exposed to technology 24/7 and could actually use their imagination.